Apparatus and system for ginning cotton



June 7, 1932. v w. M. SEELIGSON 1,861,757

APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR GINNING COTTON Filed March 10, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

W a JV IN V fi TOR.

June 7, 1932. w. M. SEELIGSO N AI PARATUS AND SYSTEM GINNING COTTON 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 10, 1950 m mu mmnmH ATTORNEY.

June 7, 1932. w. M. sasuesou APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR GINNING COTTON 4 Sheets-She et s Filed March 10. 1930 1N NTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Jun 7, 1932. w. M. SEELIGSON APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR GINNING COTTON Filed March 10,1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 7, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT Fries WALTER M. SEELIGSON, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR GINNING COTTON Application filed March 10, 1930. Serial No. 434,657.

This invention relates to cotton gins and ered and moved, and the principal object of V the invention resides in the provision of an 1 improved system of ginning whereby the cotton planter is afforded a more accessible and economical means by which to gin his cotton preparing the same for commercial use, and providing adequate facilities to promptly take care of all production.

The fast growing demand in all commercial and industrial lines for the rapid and proficient handling of commodities from the raw to the finished salable product has caused the cotton raiser to resort to the most economical and effective measures to plant, cultivate, harvest his cotton and finally the most accessible sources by which to reduce his product for commercial use to meet the public demand. Many important improvements have been made in recent years to minimize the work and otherwise assist the farmer in planting and in ultimately disposing of his harvest to his full benefit and consequent encouragement, as well as to the benefit of the consumer.

The foremost object therefore, of the present invention is to make possible, through the peculiar arrangement in railway cars of a complete ginning system, using any system of cotton gin machinery, through the medium of which, sections of the cotton regions heretofore unattended by ginneries, may be quickly supplied by this necessity thereby affording the farmer with the most modern equipment whereby to gin and otherwise prepare his product for commercial demand at an equal or even lower cost than he could enjoy from patronizing the stationary ginneries, were they available to him.

Still another object of the invention resides in the novel arrangement whereby driving power is supplied to the various units of the gin where certain of the units must be situated in separate cars, by use of individual motors using power transmitted from generators, and further, the apparent effectiveness of the system made possible through the inter-connecting fiues and conduits to obtain a steady and uniform flow of cotton during the ginning operations as in stationary systems.

The invention further aims among its objects to provide a gin capable of transportation into an area either with unattended ginning facilities or into an area wherein the ginning facilities are inadequate to meet the demand made upon them by excess production.

Yet another and important object of the invention resides in the stabilizing means for each of the cars, necessary for the effective performance of a ginnery contained within railway cars as is the equipment of the present invention.

With the foregoing objects as paramount, the invention has particular reference to lesser objects and'aclvantages, as well as to its salient features of construction and arrangement of units, to become manifest as the de scription proceeds, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein;

Figure 1 is an elevational View of a railway car, with one side removed to illustrate the baling press or compress employed in the present invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view thereof. Figure 3 is an end view. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one of the cars and a portionof another car, with one side of each removed;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the car to the right of Fig. 4, showing the gin assembly;

Fig. 6 1s a view similar to Fig. 4 showing portions of two of the other cars;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the car which contains the cleaning and elevating assembly: Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the fuel car and a portion of the car containing the power unit and forced draft radiator. the latter car having one side removed; and v Fig. 9 is atop plan view of the car containing the power unit and forced draftradiator. I

During the past few years, there have been many vast improvements in cotton ginning machinery as well as power plants for operating such machinery. Heretofore, it was necessary that all such machinery and plants be permanently located at some point within a productive area. In so establishing the ginneries, however, a burden is placed upon the farmer by reason of the fact that he is compelledto either patronize the nearest ginnery, regardless of their rates or distance from his locality, or ship his product to other points for ginning and otherwise preparing his product for market. The disadvantages of such conditions are far reaching, not only seriously handicapping the farmer but materially slowing down commerce as well and generally increasing the cost of cotton made commodities without benefit to the farmer. It is an established fact all over the cotton regions that .an many instances trucks or wagons loaded with seed cotton, especially where a large crop is being harvested, are required to stand or await their turn for service at a local ginnery for a period sometimes as long as sixty hours. Not only is this a loss of time to the producer, but very damaging-to the close packed cotton, especially if green or damp.

All of the foregoing conditions are manifest in the cotton regions .and more especially those unattended by convenient railroads, and are conditions which have not been improved concurrent with the vast improvements made in kindred industries. he present "invention therefore seeks to and does overcome the conditions forced upon the farmer whose efforts are quite without remuneration due to lack of more modern and convenient equipment.

Accordingly, the invention is comprised of a modern ginnery, the units of which are arranged in separate railway cars, generally identified by the character 1, and are so interconnected that continuous flow of cotton is obtained from the intake to the outlet, through the several units constituting the modern ginnery, to which specific reference will be later made.

In conventional ginneries, the several units are arranged indiscriminately, but in such manner to obtain the best results under varying conditions, that is to say, said units, while they must cooperate in the processing of cotton in ginning, they need not, necessarily, be situated precisely in the positions speclfied. The present invention however requires that all of the units of the assembly be arranged in a particular manner to obtain maximum results, due to the confined area in which they are required to operate and the peculiar conditions under which they are mounted for operation.

The peculiar conditions above mentioned include, among other things, the fact that the gross weights of the various units are the principal intent of disposed within the several cars in such manner that positive balance is obtained to minimize vibration. The cars containing the units are mounted upon springs of course and in the absence of means to modify or overcome overbalancing of these springs, vibration of the machinery will become intense to such degree, probably, .as to interfere with proper ginning. Therefore, it is the present invention, following its major objects, to stabilize the cars containing the equipment, so essentially necessary to provide a portable ginnery of the character expressed herein.

T is cemp'letesystem to be later explained consists primarily of a car 1 containing a cleaning unit 2, to feed which, a telescopic conduit 3 is provided, having two nozzles 4 extending outside the car on either side whereby access to wagons or other conveyances of cotton may be readily obtained. The large blower or suction fan 5, creates suit-able suction. for drawing the cotton into the cleaner 2, where it is processed over a series of concaves by an equal number of spiked beater cylinders into the next adja cent car, fragnlentarily shown in Figure 6.

The elevator 6, which is detachably joined at a, to a distributor belt housing 7, conveys the raw seed cotton into the area of the distributor belt operating within the housing 7 which belt distributes the cotton along the battery of gins 8 after cleaning by the cleaner 2.

The gins 8 are equipped with the usual lint line 9, which latter continues into the baling car shown fully equipped in Figures '1 and 2, and which will be referred to later.

The gins '8 are attended by the seed conveyors 10 for receiving seed from the several gins after they have been divested of lint, and carrying the same to the elevator 11 from which the seed is conveyed through the flue 12 into and through the baler car 1 shown in Figure 1 to a suitable storage car, wagon or truck (not shown) or otherwise disposed of.

The flue 12 is shown in dotted lines in figures 1 and 2 in order that features of the baler will not be concealed.

A standard bale of cotton today comes from the ginnery in dimensions of approximately 27 in. X 54 in. X 50 in. with an average density per cu. ft. of 12 lbs. The railway rate making boards of the cotton producing States penalize a bale of cottonof these dimensions 25 cents per cwt. or approximately $1.25 per bale for freight shipment. This therefore requires that all bale cotton to secure the minimum freight rate, must be transported from the ginneries to the nearest point of compression where the bale is compressed to a standard size of 24 in. X 54 in.'x 30 in. with a density of 22 lbs. per cu. ft. In addition to delay in shipment, resultant congestion at many local compresses, there is always a local drayage charge of not less than 25 cents per bale, compression and handling charges which in the end adds and reverts the cost to the producer.

It is of particular importance to note that the present invention makes use of a hydrauli'c compress rather than the conventional box press and tramper. The advantages obtained through the use of the compress are manifold as applied to the present instance; it being primarily possible to equal the capacity of the stationary ginnery, yet without requiring the amount of space to accommodate the conventional press. The compress as hereinafter described produces a bale of ginned cotton 24 in. X 56 in. x 30 in., with a density of 25 lbs. per cu. ft., which may be much more easily handled, due to the compactness of the cotton designated by the cotton trade as a standard density bale of cotton.

Lint cotton is received within the condenser 13, from the lint flue 9 whereupon it is discharged into the compress 1 1 by way of the lint chute 15, the latter being controlled from a small motor 16 through a belt 17 to determine the quantity of lint cotton entering the compress.

A tramper 18 is provided, as shown in Figure 1, which, by means of the hydraulic plunger 19 compresses the cotton entering the compress, whereupon the piston 20 forces the cotton into a compact mass for binding, after which the bale is removed by suitable means and conveyed out of the car by means of the trolley 21,,mounted on the ceiling of the car.

It has been heretofore mentioned that vibration, brought about by the functioning of so many separate units as are required to complete a ginning system, is detrimental to the machinery and has considerable to do with the failure of the gin to satisfactorily operate. Therefore, to minimize such vibration by stabilizing the several cars during operation of the system, a series of screw jacks 22 are employed and stationed at each corner of each car. Normally, these jacks are in retired position, as shown in Figure 6, except during actual operation of the systerm, in which latter case they are urged to the position shown in Figures 6 and 8, against the ground. Such position of the jacks insures positive stability of the cars by relieving the springs, thereby affording a steady foundation upon which the several units may operate without undue vibration. Particularly is this arrangement desirable in the car shown in Figures 6 and 8 wherein is installed the power supplying equipment.

It has been found that better results are attainable through the medium of electrical current generation, driving the starting compressor, 23, motors 24, 25, 26 and 27, operating respectively the blower or suction fan 5 in cleaner unit car; the gin stands 8; pump 29 and air compressor 30, the latter two being situated in the compress car. It has not been considered necessary herein to illustrate a wiring diagram by which each of the several motors are to receive their operating current from the generator 31, since such wiring will be, in any case entirely conventional, requiring only that a suitable master switch 32 be provided, as shown in Figure 9, with contact between each car to maintain a circuit. Of course, each unit is ordinarily dependent upon the other for its operation, or in other words, one unit is not ordinarily idle while others are functioning, but if such is desirable, it is possible to place eachmotor in independent circuits whereby each unit may be individually operated from the current generator 31.

An engine 33 is mounted in the car shown in Figures 6, 8 and 9 for operating the generator 31 from which all operating power is obtained, as well as lighting facilities, the latter not being herein shown. A forced draft radiator 34 is likewise mounted in the power car for cooling the motor 33, while air tanks 35 are mounted- It is understood that the generator employed in connection with the invention is of the A. C. type in order that the system may be operated by means of local A. G. power when the same is available, if necessary. In this power car, as well as in the cleaning unit car, there is considerable unoccupied space.

This space will be suitable as sleeping quarters for a crew of operators and will also accommodate portable wagon scales, tools, bagging and ties and other equipment likely to be needed in operating the system. Moreover, oflice space is provided by this unoccupied area, it being understood that the several cars are, or may be very effectively ventilated and air cleaned by surplus air amply supplied by the air storage tanks 35 and accumulator 36, the latter being shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive.

On occasions when customary motive power is not available and when only a short move is necessary, as in the case of moving the assembly to a point only a few yards distant, a power drive assembly is provided as exemplified in Figures 8 and 9. Through a clutch 37 mounted upon the main shaft 38 of the motor 33, a transverse shaft 39 is driven by means of an arrangement of bevel gears or equivalent means.

A sprocket 40 is surrounded by a chain 41 which also surrounds another sprocket, not shown, mounted upon the axle of the car trucks 12, as shown in Figures 8 and 9. This arrangement of course, is merely to expedite the movements of the apparatus on occasions when it would either be impractical to employ the customary means or where a locomotive cannot be obtained.

In order to supply the fuel necessary for operating the engine, and to have on hand at all times a reserve supply of such fuel, an oil tank car such as illustrated in Figure 8 is provided.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that the tremendous losses heretofore mourned by the cotton raiser, which reacts upon commerce generally will be materially reduced the invention, by reason of the fact that its transportation will avail communities not attended by suitable ginneries with the most modern and complete system at no greater cost than customary, yet affording means by which their product, when ginned and baled, may be conveyed to any designated location for marketing.

Itis also possible through the use of the present invention, to compress cotton in transit and dispose of it at any designated points along the route, further adding to the advantages of the improved system.

Manifestly, the construction shown is capable of considerable modification and such modification as is considered within the scope and meaning of the appended claim therefor, is also considered within the spirit and intent of the invention.

\Vhat is claimed is:

In a railway cotton ginning apparatus, a railway car having cotton cleaning mechanism therein, a second railway car having ginning mechanism therein, and a third railway car having baling mechanism therein, detachable means to connect the cleaning mechanism of the first car to the ginning mechanism of the second car, other detachable means to connect the ginning mechanism of the second car to the baling mechanism of the third car whereby to effect the ginning operations by the successive mechanisms in the successive cars in the recited sequence of steps, a power railway car, and means to operate the cleaning, ginning, and baling mechanisms from the power car.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

WALTER M. SEELIGSON. 

